Darkside Portside interactive poetry trail
Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.
Around, by lifting winds forgot,
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
No rays from the holy heaven come down
On the long night-time of that town
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.
Around, by lifting winds forgot,
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
No rays from the holy heaven come down
On the long night-time of that town
Get Ready!
Imagine Portsmouth’s maritime district, anytime between the 18th and early 20th Century, an area crowded with salubrious pubs, lodging houses, brothels and money lenders. These areas had reputations for exuberant and excessive leisure as it was here that sailors first stepped ashore after long and arduous maritime journeys.
Follow this trail and enjoy the poems and videos that bring this dark history to life.
An immersive tour of Portside's darker history told in poetry and video